The Mage Chronicles: Book I 'The Age of Innocence'
by Madame Moony
Summary: A single moment can change history. What if Hagrid wasn't the first to get to the Potters? The tale of a boy, the friends and enemies he makes, the skills he learns, the ordeals he must face as a young man growing up between two worlds. Xmen crossover


**A/N:** Alright, so this will be the first chapter of my first story here on Fan Fiction. I'm just testing the waters a bit by putting the prologue up; I really want to see what the reader reaction to this will be, so please leave a review. Don't expect much soon, I'm still hammering out the details in Chapter One and working on subsequent chapters.

I do, however, have at least eight pages of notes on what I have in mind for this story and the two that follow it. So even if there is a long time between updates, I do plan on finishing it eventually.

This **is** a crossover with the X-men movies, so if you get confused on characters and things that are mention, I highly suggest you either: A) watch the movies, B) look up the characters and things on Uncannyxmen . net C) use Wikipedia for the same purpose as B, or D) Google it. But I will try to be as clear and concise as possible.

Enjoy!

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_**The Mage Chronicles**_

_**Book I: The Age of Innocence**_

_Prologue: Fate Intervenes_

**Halloween Night: 1981**

In the sleepy burg of Godric Hollow on the outskirts of London, England all was silent. It should have been a night unlike any other, but that wasn't in the cards that Fate had dealt. For you see that night, one family would be destroyed, but from its ashes, like the legendary Phoenix, another family would be born. It was a night that would change the course of the world and all the events that follow.

You must understand by now that I am speaking of the tragic death of the Potters, Lily and James, in an attempt to protect their only son from the evil dark lord, Voldemort. For they were betrayed by their friend and secret keeper Peter Pettigrew, who had been a Death Eater since the day of their graduation from the magical school, Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. In Lily's last attempt to save her son, she gave him the most powerful and ancient protection of all: Love. This was something that the Dark Lord could never understand and in his attempt to kill little Harry Potter, the spell backfired tremendously and left Voldemort a mere shadow of his former powerful self kept alive by the Horcruxes he created.

From here, he was _supposed_ to be taken by Hagrid to Dumbledore and from there given to his aunt and uncle, the Dursley's, two muggles who would attempt to stamp the magic out of him. He was _supposed_ live a miserable life up until his eleventh birthday when he was supposed to discover that he was a wizard and would attend Hogwarts like his parents before him. He was then _supposed_ to embark on a fantastic journey for the next seven years making friends and enemies, experiencing love and loss, dealing with his past before eventually defeating the Dark Lord and saving the wizarding world from the ultimate darkness which also meant his death.

Of course _supposed_ is the key word in that paragraph . . .

Reader, I beg you to understand that Mistress Fate gazed upon this situation with a stern eye and decided that this would not do at all. So much pain, loss, and suffering was intermingled with joy, love, and happiness that it hurt her to even imagine that future coming into this plane of existence. No, things would play out very differently for the boy who lived. In the blink of an eye, all was changed . . . forever . . .

As the Potters fought for their lives and the safety of their son, let the focus of the reader not be upon their two story cottage. Rather, let it drift down the street five houses to the left.

This was the humble house of Sean Cassidy. Does the name sound familiar? It shouldn't, because nobody is supposed to know about him. For Sean is what some people call a _homo superior_, or a 'mutant' in laymen's terms. He possesses the ability to create vocal concussive blasts or energy lances which have the ability to cause unconsciousness, trances, or disorientation in others. In other words, he has a super sonic scream. His part is very small in Fate's plans, but shall we look into the house and see what is happening.

The Cassidy home was the picture of warmth and happiness despite what was occurring five doors down. Sean was all smiles behind his rust colored beard and twinkling blue-green eyes. Beside him on the sofa sat his very pregnant wife who was due any day now. Laughing along with him and his wife were two Americans on a brief visit, both of whom were mutants like Sean.

The first was Scott Summers: a man of average height, weight, and build. His brown hair was short, but not in a military style cut, and slightly messy in style. He had a smile on his face that called attention to his strong, square jaw. The laughter would have been reflected in his eyes, if you could have seen them. Despite the fact that it was night out, he wore a pair of glasses with ruby quartz lenses that kept people from actually seeing his eyes. He wore these because he had to, for he had no control over his mutation due to a head injury in his youth. Scott has the ability to shoot continuous ocular beams of energy that has incredible destructive force. The glasses filtered the energy into nothingness and allowed him to actually function with his eyes opened without fear of destroying anything.

Beside him sat his new girlfriend, Jean Grey. Miss Grey was a woman of exceptional beauty. Her shoulder length fiery locks were pulled back into a high ponytail that bounced as she laughed. Her green almond shaped eyes twinkled with mirth as she wiped away a tear. Jean Grey was unique even by mutant standards because she possessed two mutant abilities as opposed to just one like many mutants. Her primary power, and strongest, was that of telekinesis, or the ability to lift and move objects with her mind. Her secondary power was that of telepathy, or the ability to read the thoughts of others and to project thoughts and images into their minds.

This secondary ability would be something Fate would tap into very soon, but for the moment the four chatted happily.

"Come on, Banshee," Scott joked, "You'd make a great teacher! Xavier's school is going to be opening soon and we're expecting it to grow rapidly, and he's offered us teaching positions, but needs more help."

"I'm glad for him," Banshee replied with a fairly strong Irish accent, "but with a child on the way it'd be risky to just pack up and move now. I appreciate all that Xavier has done for me in the past, but I just cannot take a teaching position now."

"We completely understand, Mister Cassidy –" Jean began.

"Please, lass, call me Sean."

"Very well," Jean said with a smile, "We understand your position completely Sean, and Professor Xaiver's offer will always remain . . ." Jean suddenly clutched her head and let out a moan of pain.

**_Oh Merlin, it's him!_**

_My son . . ._

**_ . . . that traitor . . ._**

_Have to get away . . . JAMES NO!_

**_Can't hold on . . ._**

_ My love . . . my son . . . _

**IT IS ALL OVER NOW! To think a mere baby could defeat me . . .**

"Jean? Jean!" Scott's voice cut through the sudden rush of thoughts that had bombarded Jean's mind. Jean quickly looked up and around and noticed that she had fallen off of the couch and was on the floor. She carefully sat up and held on to Scott for dear life.

"Scott," she gasped, "Something's wrong . . ." at that moment there was a sudden flash of bright light and the sound of a muted explosion.

"What was that?" Mrs. Cassidy asked worriedly as she tried to stand from the sofa, but her husband gently pushed her back down.

"I don't know," Sean said worriedly as Scott helped Jean to stand, "But I'm going to find out."

"We'll go with you," Jean said as she stopped using Scott for an anchor, "The thoughts I heard . . . I-I-I think someone may have been killed . . ." The three mutants ran from the small cottage and into the cool night air. As they ran down the street, lights started to come on in the surrounding houses, but very slowly and there was no sign of anyone else leaving their houses.

"My God!" Scott gasped as they looked upon the remains of what must have once been a house. The wood was charred and the windows and doors were blown out. The three ran past the low garden walls and immediately went into the total structure. Once they were in the house they could hear it creak and groan under stress and weight.

"Be careful," Sean cautioned, "it doesn't seem structurally sound."

"Hello?" Scott called as he moved into what once was a living room, "Is anyone in here? Anyone injured or hurt?" Banshee followed him while Jean looked up the stairs. She strained her ears for a moment and heard a very faint sound . . . a baby cooing. . . ? Taking a chance, she tried the first stair, and it immediately gave out beneath her weight. Cursing under her breath, she closed her eyes and focused her concentration on her powers. Slowly she began to lift off the ground and move, hovering slightly, up the stairs. Once she reached the top, she set herself down gently. With a sigh, she was glad that the floor didn't give out beneath her. She moved along the upper hallway slowly heading towards the baby noises.

"Hello?" she called, "Is there somebody up here?" She reached the end of the hall to a room whose door was hanging by one hinge. She carefully stepped into the room and let out a gasp.

It was a nursery with a crib in the center of the room. Something, or more accurately someone, was wrapped in blankets and squirming around, but that isn't what drew Jean's attention first. Lying right before the crib was the facedown body of a woman with long red hair. Letting out a startled cry, she immediately rushed to the woman and turned her over. The look of fright mingled with shock on her face in conjunction with her young face scared Jean at first, but didn't stop her from checking for a pulse.

But there was none to be found.

Sadly, Jean closed the woman's eyes and pushed her jaw closed, leaving her with a peaceful dreamy look on her face. Jean looked back out the door and down the hall.

"Scott," she yelled, but there was no response. Instead she placed a hand to her temple.

_Scott, there is a woman up on the second floor. She's . . . she's dead. But her body is completely in tact which doesn't make sense if there was an explosion._

_There's a man's body down in the living room,_ Jean read from Scott's mind, _Nothing Sean or I could have done, he was already dead. According to Sean a couple known as the Potter's lived here . . . Is there anything else?_

Jean stood slowly and looked into the crib. Her green-eyed stare was matched by a pair of tiny emeralds that looked quite pleased and oblivious to the destruction the surrounded his safe crib. Jean reached in slowly and lifted the still alive child into her arms. She took note of the few tufts of black hair on his nearly bald head and the lightning bolt shaped cut on his forehead. Making sure that the blanket was wrapped securely around the child she stepped over the woman's body and moved to the hall. With a glance back at the woman she held back her tears.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Potter," Jean whispered softly to the woman, "Your son is in good hands . . ."

"Jean!" Scott yelled, "Are you alright? I can't make it up the stairs and neither can Sean!"

"Coming!" Jean yelled, hardly able to take her eyes away from the woman on the ground. Eventually she tore her gaze away and walked quickly and carefully towards the stairs. Once she reached the top of the stairs she looked down at Scott and Sean. Sean was the first to notice the bundle.

"My God," he gasped, "Is that a baby?"

"Yes," Jean replied with her voice cracking, "completely unharmed except for a scratch on his forehead." Focusing her powers, she once again lifted herself and the child into the air and hovered down the steps. As she touched down, Scott and Sean moved to look at the child.

"What do you think happened here?" Scott asked in awe as he looked at the child, "How could this entire house be destroyed, two full grown adults killed, and yet this child survives with only a scratch?" Jean shook her head.

"I don't know, Scott," Jean replied before looking at her boyfriend, "but we can't just leave him here." For a moment Scott looked taken back.

"I-I-I . . ." Scott stammered at her declaration.

"I'm pretty sure no one knows they had a child," Sean said ponderously, "In fact, nobody knew much of anything about the Potter's. They moved in one day and . . . just sort of faded into the background. I didn't even remember that they lived here until just now . . ."

"But is the institute any place for a baby?" Scott asked looking at the child and tuning out Sean's rambling, "We're going to start accepting students soon . . ."

_But the school is still empty for the time being, Cyclops. And I don't think the students we will accept will object too much about the child . . ._ A voice resonated through the three mutant's heads.

"Professor?" Jean asked aloud.

_I sensed your distress weakly and decided to check up on you with Cerebro. Jean is right, you cannot leave the child there. Return and bring him to the Institute and we'll see if we can locate any living relatives._ With that the psychic presence of Professor Xavier left their minds and the three exchanged looks.

"Well," Scott said, "Looks like we need to get going." He looked at the child once more before looking back to Sean, "Xavier's teaching offer still stands if you ever want or need it. It was good to see you again Banshee." The two men shook hands.

"Likewise, Cyclops," Sean replied and the three carefully made their way out of the destroyed house silently. Banshee returned to his home to dial for the police, and the two Americans got into their rental car and drove to the airport where the Blackbird I jet was waiting for them.

"Are you sure this is right?" Scott asked as he moved into the pilot's seat and started up the jet. Jean rocked the small boy as he drifted off to sleep.

"You were there, Scott," Jean reasoned, "Both his parents were dead . . ."

"What about other family?"

"There were no signs of any . . . no pictures . . . anything that was in that house was destroyed in the blast . . ." Jean trailed off as she touched the boy's temple, "no images of other family members. The Potter's were alone . . . But I'm sure if there is any family out there for this little guy, the professor will be able to find them, and then we can give him over to relatives." Scott looked over at his girlfriend after he had lifted the jet off of the strip and into the air.

"Any name?" he asked quietly. Jean shook her head.

"He is still so young," she replied, "no coherent thoughts or memories, only brief flashes of pictures." Scott dialed in the buttons for auto pilot before turning in his chair and extending his arms towards Jean. Carefully she placed the sleeping babe into his arms. "Support the head," she told him and he did so.

"Cute little tyke," Scott smiled as the baby snuggled closer to him in his sleep, "If we can't find his family, what would we call him? He looks like a Jacob to me." Jean laughed softly at the scene.

"Jacob Potter," she mused aloud, "I like it . . ."

"It does have a ring to it . . ." Scott said with a wry smile, "Or we could give him our last names instead, Jacob Grey-Summers, if he has no living relatives left." Jean said smiling and taking the sleeping babe.

"Who would have thought . . . we just start dating and suddenly there's a baby in our lives, that is, if we can't find any family." Scott smiled warmly.

"I can't think of anyone else I'd rather have a child with," he said as he leaned forward and kissed her softly on the lips.

Fate smiled upon the scene. This was far superior to the original timeline she had dealt. For the briefest moment here eyes turned back to England.

There many things had changed, which was an unstoppable outcome of her alteration of players and their fates . . .

_Instead of an innocent man going to prison for twelve years of his life, Sirius Black confessed to his mentor and leader, Albus Dumbledore, what he had done and who the true traitor was. The true traitor, Peter Pettigrew, when confronted by Black and a group of Aurors killed 13 innocent muggles and faked his death, to the ignorance of the world._

_The world mourned the death and the end of a fantastic and noble family while they celebrated the downfall of an evil tyrant. Unbeknownst to them, the boy who had become the savior of their world was still alive, still growing, and learning. But he was not known as Harry Potter as he was supposed to have been. He was now Jacob Grey-Summers. He would return to that world of magic someday, but for the time being he was going to his new home to live with his new family._

_That new home was Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters._


End file.
